Monday, July 31, 2006

Unconnected Thoughts

Monday, July 31, 2005 -- Week of Proper 12 (Ignatius of Loyola)

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 977)
Psalm 56, 57, [58] (morning) // 64, 65 (evening)
Joshua 24:16-33
Romans 16:1-16
Matthew 27:24-31

Unconnected thoughts.

"You can't climb that tree." "Watch me."

Joshua's gives the people one of those you-can't-do-that challenges. "You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God." The reason he gives is centered in God's own nature as one who is passionately determined to be Israel's only God -- "for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God." Joshua goes further. He cannot conceive that this holy and jealous God will give Israel a second chance should Israel forsake God. "He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins."

It is a sobering challenge. To support the people in their promise to serve God, Joshua gives them three things -- a covenant, the book of the law, and a reminder in the form of a witness stone under the oak in the sanctuary at Shechem. Not unlike our Christian structures -- Jesus the new covenant, the gospels and early writings, the sacraments.
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Romans 16 -- Yes, there is a woman listed among the apostles. And a couple who hosts a church in their home. And a sister whose title is shared elsewhere by Paul and by Christ.

"Greet Andronicus and Junia, ...they are prominent among the apostles." Junia is a woman's name. She is listed among the apostles.

"Greet Prisca and Aquila, who work with me in Christ Jesus... Greet also the church in their house." This couple is listed together as the leaders of the early house church, the woman's name listed first, which is unusual in ancient times.

"I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae, so that you may welcome her, ...and help her in whatever she may require from you." Paul is sending Phoebe to minister in Rome. He tells them to help her. The word translated "deacon" (diakonos) can also be translated "minister" or "servant". In Romans 15:8 Paul uses the word of Jesus, "For I tell you that Christ has become a diakonos of the circumcised..." And Paul speaks of himself with the same term. "What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Diakonos through whom you came to believe."

Is it too far a stretch to see in this short list of Paul's greetings the presence of women working in what would become the three-fold ordained ministries? Bishop, Junia. Priest, Prisca. Deacon, Phoebe. Many scholars see the New Testaments texts that limit or prohibit female leadership in worship as being later reactions against the practice of Paul in whose churches there was a radical equality. In Christ "there is no longer male or female." (Gal. 3:28)
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We have the brief passage of the soldiers' mocking and torturing Jesus. He does not respond in bitterness or anger. He does not ask God for vengeance. He endures and absorbs the evil with total vulnerability. He will trust God and maintain his own character as one who loves and serves.

What might that say to our day when violence responded to with violence is the norm?

Lowell
__________________________________________________________________________________

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list, go to our Subscriptions page

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Friday, July 28, 2006

Fantastic Stories

Friday, July 28, 2006 -- Week of Proper 11

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 977)
Psalm 40, 54 (morning) // 51 (evening)
Joshua 9:21 - 10:15
Romans 15:14-24
Matthew 27:1-10

"Once upon a time..."

Children know when they hear those words that a story is coming. Native American storytellers sometimes will begin a narrative with this introduction: "I don't know whether it happened exactly this way, but this story is true."

How do we teach our children the stories of our faith, but teach them in a way that they won't have to unlearn them when they get older? Today we have the story of Joshua's military victory over the five kings, when "the sun stopped in midheaven, and did not hurry to set for about a whole day."

It is an article of faith for some literalists that on this day God interrupted the normal activity of the solar system and physically stopped the rotation of the earth in relation to the sun. (I remember some excited commentator writing about a scientific adjustment in the measurement of time over many thousands of years and saying it corresponds to the day the sun stood still for Joshua -- scientific proof of the truth of the Bible!)

Some people are comfortable simply saying, "God can do anything. If God wanted to stop the sun, God did it." That's not something I'm comfortable with. In God's providence, God created the wonderful relationships of physics as the context for existence and life. I know too much science to believe that the earth stopped rotating for a day (or something comparable).

I remember reading this story in a particular Children's Bible and being so impressed with the way the author told this story. It went something like this. "We don't know what happened, but it was wonderful. The day did not end before Joshua and the army of Israel had won the victory. It felt like time stood still for them. It felt like the sun had stopped moving in the sky until they had won the victory." I thought to myself, that's when the good reader might turn to the child and ask, "Have you ever had any days like that?" The story retains its magic and opens us to its power in our lives without reducing it to a factual either/or. Faith is not the reward of the most gullible.

I think it is a good practice for churches and parents to refrain from teaching children things that they will probably have to unlearn when they get older. Honor the poetry, but let it be poetry. Don't demean the Bible and read it as though it were a newspaper.
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P.S. Today we've got another one of those stumpers for literalism. How did Judas die? Matthew has one version we read today. In guilt and grief Judas threw the 30 pieces of silver into the temple and went an hanged himself. The authorities used the blood money to buy a potter's field to bury foreigners, called "Field of Blood".

Luke has another version (Acts 1:15f) Judas bought a field with the money "and falling headlong (or swelling up), he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out." The field was called "Field of Blood" (nothing about a cemetery).

I've seen a literalist commentary say that Judas bought the field hanged himself, then he burst open, and the authorities made it into a potter's cemetery -- it's all literally true. That seems like a stretch to me.

Sometimes the stories of the New Testament appear to be crafted in order to connect our stories with the great story of Israel -- not history remembered but prophecy historicized. Matthew narrates Judas' death through the lens of Zechariah 11 and Jeremiah 18 and 32. Luke writes with reference to Psalms 69 and 109. Both have access to some remembered tradition linking Judas with the "Field of Blood" and with a dishonorable death. They come up with different stories. The important question is not "what really happened?" or (worse) "which is true?" -- but "What does the story mean?"

Lowell
__________________________________________________________________________________

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list, go to our Subscriptions page

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Alternatives to Tribalism

Thursday, July 27, 2006 -- Week of Proper 11 (William Reed Huntington)

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 977)
Psalm 50 (morning) // [59, 60] or 66, 67 (evening)
Joshua 9:3-21
Romans 15:1-13
Matthew 26:69-75

There is much that is troubling with the Deuteronomic history of the Hebrew scriptures. The clear teaching from Joshua is that God commands the complete annihilation of the resident tribes during Joshua's conquest of the land which God has given Israel -- genocide and (dare we say) holocaust. When Hivites from Gibeon cleverly trick Joshua into pledging a treaty with them, the escape destruction but are relegated to a servile role as "hewers of wood and drawers of water." Today we live with animosities and violence that are largely fueled by rival claims of this same land and by hot memories of killings and destructions.

Paul's words from Romans 15 come as such a contrast. Paul strings together a series of quotes from the Hebrew scriptures. He collects the songs of rejoicing and hope that declare that the promises given to the Jewish patriarchs would redound into blessings for the Gentiles. Paul is reaching out actively to unite Jew and Gentile in a loving fellowship that accepts and honors differences of belief and practice. "Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor."

In Matthew we have a new teaching about the consequences of sin, failure and betrayal. Peter denies Jesus three times. It is a public failure. This is the kind of falsehood that we could imagine would incur an absolute punishment from another religious tradition. A few chapters ago in the Deuteronomic history we read of Achen and his family being utterly destroyed for keeping some of the booty from Jericho. We know the rest of Peter's story. He will not be stoned or burned for his betrayal. He will be forgiven, reconciled, and empowered for leadership.

Today is the feast day of one of our Episcopal Church leaders William Reed Huntington. He was the church's most outstanding priest serving the House of Deputies during the General Conventions from 1871 until 1907. It was a time of great conflict, not unlike today. Huntington helped preserve unity following the painful schism when Assistant Bishop George David Cummins of Kentucky led a break which resulted in the creation of the Reformed Episcopal Church. Huntington helped articulate some essentials for Christian unity, the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral (p. 876-8 of the Prayer Book). He also spurred the revival of the order of deaconess, restoring women to the clerical orders.

How much we need new ways of finding paths to honor differences of belief and practice while upholding essentials. We need leaders who can forge both creativity and reconciliation. Tribal warfare is a tragic and unacceptable alternative.

Lowell
__________________________________________________________________________________

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list, go to our Subscriptions page

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

"Son of Man"

Wednesday, July 26, 2006 -- Week of Proper 11 (the Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Discussion Blog
To comment on today's reflection or readings, go to http://lowellsblog.blogspot.com, find today's reading, click "comment" at the bottom of the reading, and post your thoughts.

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 977)
Psalm 119:49-72 (morning) // 49, [53] (evening)
Joshua 8:30-35
Romans 14:13-23
Matthew 26:57-68

In Matthew's version of Jesus' trial, we have a culminating moment as Jesus speaks and his words are clearly judged as blasphemy.

Part of the power of the monotheistic tradition of Judaism is infinite gulf between God and humanity. There is only one God and that God is holy. Only God is holy. Human beings are called to be a holy people by following the commandments of God. But God alone is divine, a jealous God to be praised, honored, worshiped, and obeyed. The gulf between the human and divine is an infinite chasm. Only Moses could look upon God face to face and not be consumed. For any human being to claim intimacy or relationship with God would be blasphemy. That's one reason we see so much of the lyrical language of love and devotion in the Hebrew scripture directed toward God's law and God's word. Psalm 119 is a love song to God's statutes and commandments. There is a powerful tradition that it would be presumptuous to love the being of God who is so far beyond our being. That's the tradition under which Jesus is being tried.

In Matthew's account of the trail, Caiaphas the high priest says, "Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God." Jesus answers, "From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven." The response is instantaneous. "He has blasphemed!"

But note. Jesus did not say he was the Son of God. His words are "you will see the Son of Man." It is a phrase that apparently was Jesus' favorite self-designation, used by him 81 times in the Gospels. Son of Man. Some translations have rendered it "Mortal" or "Human Being." The epithet appears significantly in the book of Ezekiel where God addresses Ezekiel as "Son of Man/Mortal" more than ninety times. And one of Daniel's visions describes a son of man who is presented to the "Ancient of Days" who gives him power and authority.

The words are a modest, humble title. Jesus used them consistently to describe himself. "Son of Man" reminds us of our orthodox faith that Jesus was fully human, fully a Son of Man, the son of Mary whose parents we celebrate today. We also see in the Son of Man a human being who is one with God. In Matthew's account Jesus was accused of blasphemy for claiming a place "at the right hand of Power." "Human Being" in intimate relationship with God, the mortal taken into the divine.

John's gospel elaborates with several passages about the oneness between God the Father and the Son, and the oneness between the Son and us. The message is clear. The great gulf and divide between humanity and God is crossed. We also -- sons and daughters of man and woman -- are taken into God's being. "Divinization" was the theological word the church fathers used. In Christ, God assumes our full humanity and raises it to full divinity. That is our purpose and end. Mortality is to take on immortality. Human beings are intended to be one with God. That is your essential identity.

Lowell
___________________________________________________________

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list go to our Subscriptions page

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Honoring Different Beliefs & Practices

Tuesday, July 25, 2006 -- Week of Proper 11 (St. James the Apostle)

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 977)
Psalm 45 (morning) // 47, 48 (evening)
Joshua 8:1-22
Romans 14:1-12
Matthew 26:47-56

According to Paul, faithful Christians may hold very different beliefs and observe very different practices while living together as a community of faith.

"Let all be fully convinced in their own minds." Not, let all think exactly alike.

Verse 4 is fascinating. "Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord (or God) is able to make them stand." What does Paul mean when he says of those who are different that "it is before their own lord that they stand or fall"? The most likely interpretation is that they stand or fall according to the principle that their conscience holds or that they stand or fall according to the way they understand God's requirements.

(It seems to me that it would be a stretch of Paul's theology to interpret this outside the Christian community as an endorsement of non-Christian religions, i.e. "servants of another god". But these words isolated from Paul's other writing might be read that way.)

Paul is addressing important conflicts in the early Christian community. Some members were convinced that to eat public market meat which has been ritually dedicated to the gods (including the divine Emperor) is an act of disloyalty to the One God. Others were convinced that since those gods don't exist, meat is meat -- eat. Some members observed the sabbath; it is one of the ten commandments. Other members "judge all days to be alike." These are important and potentially divisive differences.

Paul did not require uniformity or conformity of belief or practice on these matters. He tells them to follow their religious conscience, and whatever conclusion they come to, practice their convictions "in honor of the Lord," even if those convictions are opposite from another member's. "Let all be fully convinced in their own minds."

Paul expects those of different beliefs and practices to live together in Christ, to welcome one another, and not to pass judgment on each other.

Paul's practice seems consistent with Bishop Maze's recent announcement that was covered in some newspapers. He has authorized some congregations who have appropriately prepared to offer blessings to their committed same-gender couples as part of that congregation's pastoral response to their gay and lesbian members. He does not expect every congregation to do so. "Let all be fully convinced in their own minds."

We are one of those congregations that has done that preparation and our Vestry has become convinced that this is a good thing. Not all of our members at St. Paul's agree with that interpretation. Fine. No problem. We are welcome to have different opinions and judgments about these things while remaining in communion and welcoming one another.

"Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord (their own principles) that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand... Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God. We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord."

Lowell
___________________________________________________________

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to receive this by email, go to our Subscriptions page and follow the instructions.

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

Monday, July 24, 2006

The Communal Nature of Things

Monday, July 24, 2006 -- Week of Proper 11 (Thomas a Kempis)

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 977)
Psalm 41, 52 (morning) // 44 (evening)
Joshua 7:1-13
Romans 13:9-14
Matthew 26:36-46


In each of today's readings there is a slant on the communal nature of our lives. We are interrelated, and what we do affects everyone else.

The story from Joshua illustrates the corporate nature of sin. Achen has taken for himself some of the war booty that had been dedicated to God. The effect is catastrophic. The whole community is held guilty and responsible. God no longer goes out with the army of Israel, and they experience a fearful defeat. From a human perspective, what Achen has done is entirely hidden. But God knows, and the consequences are contagious.

Paul summarizes the law's obligations to the neighbor with the word love. "Love your neighbor as yourself." He encourages his readers to live in this new light.

Jesus asks for the support of his friends as he faces the anticipation of his time of trial. He prays for an escape. He prays that he would be spared. He does not want to do what he feels led into. He wants the help and support of Peter, James and John. But they are tired and the hour is late. They fall asleep. They are of little help.

The intertwining picture from these three moments is sobering. Even our hidden selfish acts have profound consequences. Love is our abiding call and duty. Sometimes you can't avoid facing what your would rather not face, sometimes unsupported.

Lowell

Friday, July 21, 2006

Communion

Friday, July 21, 2006 -- Week of 10 Pentecost

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 975)
Psalm 31 (morning) // 35 (evening)
Joshua 4:19 - 5:1, 10-15
Romans 12:9-21
Matthew 26:17-25

To eat a meal with another is a holy thing. In all societies it has always carried great meaning. In Jesus' culture, to eat with another was a public expression of relationship. To eat with another announced one's public acceptance of the other in a relationship not unlike family. To betray one with whom you have eaten was inconceivable. Part of the scandal that Jesus provoked among his contemporaries was that he ate openly with sinners and with the unclean. That is not what good people do, according to conventional thought.

Today we have Matthew's version of Jesus' last supper with his disciples. Jesus identifies his life -- his body and blood -- with the bread and the cup of wine. There is a hint of scandal in this act also. Jewish piety forbids consuming the blood of an animal. Kosher meat is food that has been carefully butchered so that the blood is returned to the earth, for the blood is life. To drink the blood is to drink the life. To eat the body of another human is also taboo.

The scandal of it all adds to the unexpectedness and the power of Jesus' act that evening. "This is my body. This is my blood." This is also a sacred meal which creates relationship. To participate in this meal is to create relationships centered in the presence and person of Jesus and to be fed by his life. Jesus' life constitutes our life and our relationships. We become one body and one blood, his body and his blood.

From Easter day Christians have known Jesus to be present in the breaking of the bread and in the sharing of the cup. It is within this meal that we interpret his death and resurrection. He is alive and with us. We know him in the sacred meal. For 2000 years we have created a relationship so close that it is named communion. We are in common-union. This is our fundamental identity. We are the community of Jesus' life. His Spirit dwells among and within us. He is risen. So are we.

Lowell

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Liberating Prophets

Thursday, July 20, 2006 -- Week of 10 Pentecost
(Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Ross Tubman)

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 975)
Psalm 37:1-18 (morning) // 37:19-42 (evening)
Joshua 3:14 - 4:7
Romans 12:1-8
Matthew 26:1-16

In today's gospel reading Jesus is staying at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper. Jesus is living with someone who is unclean. While there, another socially marginalized person, and unnamed woman, comes in the house and anoints Jesus with costly ointment. It causes some scandal among the disciples.

In our reading from Paul's letter, he writes, "Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Today the Episcopal Church celebrates a feast day for four women who served America as liberators and prophets -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Ross Tubman. All four challenged the social order -- our purity codes and marginalizing -- defying the conformities of their age, transforming their listeners by the renewing of their minds so that they might discern what is the will of God.

Stanton held the Church accountable for using Scripture to enforce the subordination of women in marriage and ordination. She challenged secular society for withholding from women property and voting rights and job equality. A scholar in Greek, she formed a committee of women to write a Scripture commentary about passages traditionally used to discriminate against women.

Bloomer became scandalous by protesting against women's fashions that featured waist-tightening corsets which were uncomfortable and dangerous, especially for pregnant women. Clergy attacked her loose-fitting trousers (bloomers) quoting Moses saying, "Women should not dress like men." If you clergy cared about what Moses said about clothes, she fired back, you "would all put fringes and blue ribbons on [your] garments." She also challenged the use of Paul's letters to oppress women.

Truth was an escaped slave who became a traveling preacher. When this six-foot black woman with a charismatic presence approached white revivals and asked to preach, they usually let her. She quoted long passages of Scripture by heart and she sang passionately about the evils of slavery. She extended her logic of liberation to the women's movement.

Tubman also escaped slavery and worked underground to free at least 300 slaves by leading them into Canada. Authorities put a $40,000 bounty on her head. During the Civil War she led 300 black soldiers on a raid that freed over 750 slaves. She is the first American woman to lead military troops into action. She joined Susan B. Anthony and others in the struggle for women's rights.

It is a day to celebrate the prophetic movements of liberation and the faithful people who refuse to be conformed to this age. Jesus, Paul and these four women all challenged the traditional interpretations of Scripture which limited the presence of God's grace in some. These struggles still continue. In our age we can hear Scripture quoted to condemn and marginalize people with certain diseases, women, foreigners, people of color, same-sex orientation, the poor, and religious pluralities. But there is an inspiring list of prophets from Jesus unto today who have insisted on the acknowledgment of grace present in the lives of others, especially in the unexpected person. Today is a good day to celebrate that work in our age and to continue to challenge those who use the Bible to limit the sphere of God's grace and liberation.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Charity and Universalism

Wednesday. July 19, 2006 -- Week of 10 Pentecost (Macrina)

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 975)
Psalm 38 (morning) // 119:25-48 (evening)
Joshua 3:1-13
Romans 11:25-36
Matthew 25:31-46

How interesting Christianity might be if all we had from the Gospels was this parable of the judgment -- People are judged entirely on the basis of charity. Those who feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, care for the sick and visit the imprisoned are rewarded with eternal life. Those who aren't are sent to the eternal fire. Pretty simple. How different might our entire religious movement be if that were our sole criteria for faithfulness. How much less suffering might there be in the world. What if our only commandment and motivation was the call to compassionate charity?
________________

Paul is so interesting. He's absolutely sure that the decisions we make are critical. Deciding to trust God through faith is absolutely critical to knowing oneself to be in a right relationship with God, to live in grace. Everything depends upon this, he says. This is the gift that Jesus reveals and gives. It is the gift of life. Don't miss it. Don't block it. Trust God; be saved.

He also has strong opinions about our behavior toward one another. He makes his opinions known about right and wrong. His most characteristic ethic is one a radical equality. All are the same before God. All equally loved and saved by God's universal grace. All equally in need and debt to that grace.

But transcending all of that is his experience of the overwhelming love and grace of God. God is so compelling that when he turns to contemplate the immeasurable richness of God's glorious grace, so many distinctions seem to melt away. Nothing can frustrate this divine glory, nothing can separate us from the love of God, he says.

So he thinks about his family the Jews, especially those who have rejected Jesus and continue to oppose Paul and the Jesus movement. He sees their disobedience as a door opening for the Gentile's inclusion into God's chosen family. Now Gentiles also know they receive the same mercy. And even the disobedience of the Jews does not cancel their gift of God's election. "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable... For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all."

Once again Paul's contemplation of God's goodness flows over into an expression of universalism. Immediately after thinking about this wonder, after announcing that God will be merciful to all, he explodes into a paean of praise: "O the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!"

I feel exactly the same way. My experience of God is so overwhelming and inexpressible that it absolutely transcends everything else. I can't imagine anyone or anything ultimately resisting such wonderful grace and love. I can't imagine God losing anyone or anything. Yet I know nothing. God is Mystery. But I have ultimate hope, "for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."

"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen."

Lowell

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Prostitutes, Branches, and Action

Tuesday, July 18, 2005 -- Week of 10 Pentecost

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

Discussion Blog
To comment on today's reflection or readings, go to http://lowellsblog.blogspot.com, find today's reading, click "comment" at the bottom of the reading, and post your thoughts.

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 975)
Psalm 26, 28 (morning) // 36, 39 (evening)
Joshua 2:15-24
Romans 11:13-24
Matthew 25:14-30

Each of today's readings prompts a little reflection for me.

It is interesting that the spies that Joshua sends to the walled city of Jericho find an ally in Rahab the prostitute. It is in her house that they find shelter. There is some sexual innuendo in verses 3 and 4 when the officials are looking for them.

Rehab is legally independent. She owns her own house and her own business. Strangers can enter her place of business without being conspicuous. She is in a uniquely powerful position for a woman in her culture.

Instead of cooperating with the city officials, she hides the spies and then negotiates with them for her own protection and for her relatives. She shows initiative as she drives the bargain and directs the escape of the spies. When they return to Joshua, their report is essentially only the information and interpretation that Rahab has given them. They will keep their promise to spare her house and all who are in them. (Note: they don't tell her to stop her immoral business.) Her family will be the only ones Joshua spares in the complete destruction of the city.
____________

Paul continues to insist that Israel is holy, God's people, despite the rejection of Jesus. "If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; and if the root is holy, then the branches also are holy."

He likens the new Gentile Christians to wild olive branches that have been unnaturally grafted onto the cultivated olive tree of Israel. How easy it will be for God to restore those natural branches who have been broken off. How kind of God to connect the wild branches to the tree. "You stand only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe."

All is gift. There is nothing to be proud or exclusive about.
____________

One of the possible lessons about the parable of the talents also connects with the story about Rehab and the spies. Authentic life demands action and risk rather than safety and passivity. The slaves who act and risk find reward. The one who plays it safe is punished.

Where are we on the continuum between risking and playing it safe?
___________

Lowell

Monday, July 17, 2006

Failure and Inclusion

Monday, July 17, 2006 -- Week of Proper 10; (William White)

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 975)
Psalm 25 (morning) // 9, 15 (evening)
Joshua 1:1-18
Romans 11:1-12
Matthew 25:1-13

Paul is working on a problem today. He knows God has chosen Israel. He also knows that Israel, for the most part, rejected the ministry of Jesus. Does this mean that God has rejected Israel? No, says Paul, for God's gift of election is forever. He looks back to the days of Elijah, when the prophet led a remnant of Israel in conflict with Ahab and the prophets of Baal. There is always a faithful remnant.

The Paul affirms how God has used Israel's rejection of Jesus as a great door and opportunity. Thanks, in part, to Israel's failure to recognize Jesus as Messiah, the Jesus movement has been thrust into the Gentile world where Paul's ministry is fruitful and growing. The result of Israel's failure is an even greater victory for God. "Now if there stumbling means riches for the world, and if their defeat means riches for Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!" Note: Paul expects that in the end all of Israel will also be included in God's work of salvation.

I guess it is always this way when God reaches out more broadly to bring grace. We see it in the church. Around 30 years ago our branch of the church acted to recognized God's presence through women in ordained leadership. Some of our people rejected that decision and still do. More recently, we have moved to recognize God's presence in our gay and lesbian members and their relationships. Some of our people reject those decisions.

As Paul is anguished for the separation of the Christian movement from his own source -- "I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin" -- so we are anguished by the conflicts and divisions the church lives with. Like Paul, we can rejoice at the wider grace of God being experienced by those who were once excluded. Like Paul we can also anticipate the reconciliation and reunion of those who have rejected this stage in God's work of salvation. The expectation is for full inclusion. Jew, Gentile; male, female; gay, straight.

Sermon: Save us from the Time of Trial

Save us from the Time of Trial

Sermon preached by the Rev. Lowell E. Grisham, Rector
July 16, 2006; 6 Pentecost, Proper 10, Year B
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

(Mark 6:14-29) -- King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some were saying, "John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him." But others said, "It is Elijah." And others said, "It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old." But when Herod heard of it, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised."

For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her. For John had been telling Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him. But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it." And he solemnly swore to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom." She went out and said to hermother, "What should I ask for?" She replied, "The head of John the baptizer." Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter." The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.
____________________________

Scholars tell us that the phrase we repeat over and over in the Lord's Prayer -- "and lead us not into temptation" -- would be more accurately translated into English as our alternate version does -- "save us from the time of trial." You recall the phrase that follows. "And deliver us from evil."

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams says this phrase anticipates "this huge trial that's coming, this huge crisis that's coming. Lead us not into crisis, don't, please God don't push us into the time of crisis before you've made us ready for it. Don't push us until you've given us what we need to face it." Archbishop Williams goes on to say to us, "Don't assume you know how much you're capable of. Pray that when the time of trial comes when things get really difficult you will have the resource to meet it." (http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/features/lords_prayer/)

"Save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil," we pray. And hopefully none of us will ever have to confront personally an experience of radical evil. But terrible things happen in this unjust world. If we face the time of trial, how shall we respond?

Jesus began his public ministry on the occasion of the imprisonment of his cousin John the Baptizer, "proclaiming the good news of God and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.'" (Mark 1:14-15) Jesus meets the bad news of John's arrest with the good news of God's immanent kingdom.

Six chapters later in Mark's Gospel -- we don't know how much elapsed time that might represent -- we hear the brutal story of John's execution. It is a story of such indignant cruelty. An evil tyrant gives John's head on a platter as a reward for some erotic dancing. Could there be a more disgusting example of corrupt despotism? This is the kind of behavior that calls zealots to armed struggle and resistance.

How this news must have struck Jesus. John was his friend and cousin. It was John who first encouraged Jesus' vocation. Jesus loved and respected John. Maybe he saw his own work as following in the footsteps of John, his mentor and colleague. Jesus' outrage and grief would have been profound. This violence hits close to home. Would Jesus be next? "Save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil."

How does Jesus react? How does he respond? It is interesting what he doesn't do. He doesn't fulfill the Messianic expectations by raising an army to overthrow the rule of Herod and the hated Romans. He doesn't turn to the underground movement of Zealots and plot revenge. According to Mark's Gospel, after this personal encounter with radical evil, Jesus tried to go away with his friends to a deserted place to rest for a while, but a great crowd followed them. And, the scripture says, he had compassion for them. He taught for a while. Then, when it grew late, he took five loaves and two fish, blessed and broke and gave them to the multitudes, and fed them.

How do you confront radical evil? Jesus did so with radical generosity.


In 1987 Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie allowed his assistant Terry Waite to go to Lebanon to negotiate for the release of four hostages. Waite was promised safe conduct to visit with the hostages. That promise was broken, and Terry Waite himself became a hostage for almost five years. For most of that time he was in solitary confinement, chained to a wall and blindfolded, given five minutes a day unchained to go to the bathroom.

After his release, he founded Hostage UK, a support ministry for hostage families. Waite has written and spoken widely about his hope for reconciliation and peace. His consistent message: "Terrorism is not ultimately defeated by the force of arms; you have to deal with the root causes and ask what makes people act in such extreme ways." He called the Iraq war "one of the real roots of the recent terrorism. I always said that it would create a black hole into which extremists would pour.@ And speaking four years ago of the conditions at Guantanamo prison, he said, "I am not soft on terrorism -- I have had too many dealings with it to be so -- but I am passionate that we must observe standards of justice." And he called for international oversight over that facility. (http://www.counterpunch.org/waite1.html)

Terry Waite is the founder of Y Care, assisting victims of war, particularly those in Lebanese refugee camps and across the Occupied Territories. He is also a patron of Neve Shalom (Oasis for Peace), a community of 50 families, half Palestinian and half Jewish, who live together in a democratically governed society. He staunchly defends the Arab peoples as among the most hospitable in the world and works to counter the stereotyping that victimizes the mass of Arabs because of the actions of a few radical fundamentalists. Terry Waite has been saved in his time of trial and delivered from evil. Now, like Jesus, he proclaims the good news, and calls people to repent and believe in that good news.

I've shared with you before the story of a New York family whom I met while I was in seminary. Their adolescent son was killed on the sidewalk by an unrepentant young thug who said he shot him because he didn't like the way the boy laughed. The family publically forgave their son's killer and grieved for his family, because their family too, in so many ways, had also lost a son.

Hector Aristizabal was tortured for three days and three nights for being a member of an intellectual family in Columbia. He was beaten, held under water, shocked with electricity, and given mock executions. He lives with involuntary "flashbulb memories." Today he works with prisoners, schoolchildren, and in hospice care with the dying and their families as a founder of the Theater of the Oppressed, an artistic movement that seeks to bring about social change through performance. He has "come to think of having been tortured as an initiation ritual, a wounding that has marked his life purpose." (Utne, July-August, 2006, p. 46)

A few years ago we used Suzanne Simon's book How to Make Peace with your Past and Get on with your Life as our Lenten study on forgiveness. The book summarizes the workshops she and her husband conduct. She uses her own pilgrimage of freedom as a survivor of incest as a template for others in their the journey of forgiveness.

When we pray the Lord's Prayer, we ask that we will be spared such times of trial and such evils. But we also pray that if "the time of trial comes ...[we] will have the resource to meet it."

We live in an age when our senses are assaulted by reports of atrocities and violence world wide. We know of cruel despots and unjust imprisonments. We know about beheadings. How shall we respond to this time of trial? How shall we be delivered from this evil?

Can we face our trials with the generosity of Jesus? Can we live in the faithful tradition of so many other inspiring heroes? What if we used our sufferings as a motivation to help teach and feed the multitudes? How can we make the words of the Lord's Prayer more alive? "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."

Cruelties and atrocities abound in this fallen world. But God calls us to be a people who live in the spirit of Jesus. He never responded to violence with violence, but faced evil with strong compassion, loving generosity and reconciling forgiveness. We call it the way of the cross. Strong compassion, loving generosity and reconciling forgiveness. It is a choice that takes great courage. What do you do when a despot beheads a righteous man? Jesus looked around for people who needed feeding.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Realism and Trust

Friday, July 14, 2006 -- Week of Proper 9

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

Discussion Blog
To comment on today's reflection or readings, go to http://lowellsblog.blogspot.com, find today's reading, click "comment" at the bottom of the reading, and post your thoughts.

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 973)
Psalm 16, 17 (morning) // 22 (evening)
Deuteronomy 31:7-1,24-32:4
Romans 10:1-13
Matthew 24:15-31

For the most part we have ominous readings today, with deep nuggets of trust at their center. Psalm 22 sounds the deep existential cry, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" The psalmist faces overwhelming threats and speaks them to God with realism and frankness. With a cry of "help" we feel the mood shift. Though the circumstances may not have changed, the psalmist is able to trust God even unto death. "My soul shall live for him; my descendants shall serve him; they shall be known as the Lord's for ever. They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn the saving deeds that he has done."

Moses finishes with the law, its words having been promulgated for the previous 27 chapters. He places the law with the ark of the covenant and calls upon the law as witness. Moses predicts that the people of Israel will disobey this law in the future and will suffer gravely for their disobedience. He then turns his face toward God, "the Rock, his work is perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God, without deceit, just and upright is he."

Paul has been considering with great feeling the tragic irony that the elected people of God failed to recognize the Messiah, Christ who is the end of the law. Though their own tradition is grounded in faith, the example of Abraham's trust being the father of faith, most Jews have not embraced this gift of life in faith. Yet Paul continues with profound hope for both Jew and Gentile. "The same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'" He proclaims God's nearness, quoting Deuteronomy the, book of Moses, "The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart."

And in Matthew we start with "desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place" and continue into descriptions of horrible terror and suffering, with warnings about false messiahs. Most of what is described actually occurred during the Jewish war that culminated in the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. Yet in the midst of this chapter of apocalypse, there is the vision of the coming of the Son of Man, "as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west."

A pattern seems to emerge. There is a realistic acceptance of the horror, brokenness and threat that can overwhelm us even unto death. And there is an expression of trust and hope in the God who is always with us. Realism and trust. I'm reminded of the words, "Perfect love casts out fear."

Thursday, July 13, 2006

The End

Thursday, July 13, 2006 -- Week of Proper 9

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

Discussion Blog
To comment on today's reflection or readings, go to http://lowellsblog.blogspot.com, find today's reading, click "comment" at the bottom of the reading, and post your thoughts.

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 973)
Psalm 18:1-20 (morning) // 18:21-50 (evening)
Deuteronomy 3:18-28
Romans 9:19-33
Matthew 24:1-14

Today we have some of Matthew's section of eschatological and apocalyptic discourse.

It seems likely that Jesus believed that God was moving decisively and soon toward the fulfillment of creation. His sense of God was so complete that he actively longed for the final triumph of God. He acted with an urgency that reflected his hope. Thy kingdom come!

There are several places in the Gospels where we hear Jesus express his hope and conviction that the final victory of God would be within the lifetime of his listeners. In those passages, Jesus always qualified that hope, saying, in effect, "no one knows; not the Son or even the angels. Only God know when the triumphant end will be."

It seems clear that the early church shared that expectation. We see the hope for an immanent eschaton very present in Paul's earliest letters. Some of the issues that faced his church were fueled by this hope. He advises them -- it's better not to marry, it's no sin, but why marry if the end is so near; nevertheless everyone should have a job and work. Paul's later writings address some of the church's disappointment that Jesus had not yet returned to establish the final reign of God on earth. His advice reflects the ethic of a longer view.

Today's readings have a similar feel. Matthew is writing after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE when the Temple has been destroyed. He connects that catastrophe with the expectation of the end of the age. We have a series of discourses that anticipate a sudden and unpredictable end of the age with the complete triumph of God. They also read in such a way that they describe the ongoing conflicts of history. The whole message is tingling with energy. "Now; though not yet; but, O, so soon. Be prepared at every moment!"

The church has lived within that expectant energy for over 2,000 years. And each of us knows our own personal apocalypse is certain if not immanent. Be prepared at every moment! We have also experienced a kind of realized eschatology in the presents and saving activity of Jesus here and now in every moment of creation.

I read these passages as words of comfort and hope. God is present and working toward history's fulfillment, even in the worst of disasters. Always hope. Be prepared at every moment.

And, the gospel will remind us, don't pay attention to any of those who think they know "when." They don't. Live as though today is the day. Live as though there will be another 2,000 years or more for the church to nurture the good news.

Lowell

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

The Poor and the Alien

Wednesday, July 12, 2006 -- Week of Proper 9

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 973)
Psalm 119:1-24 (morning) // 12, 13, 14 (evening)
Deuteronomy 1:1-18
Romans 9:1-18
Matthew 23:27-39

When you read the scriptures day by day, it is impressive how often the Bible speaks with a compassionate voice on behalf of the poor. It is impossible to study the scripture and not be convinced of God's special attention for the poor and of our responsibility on behalf of the poor.

That struck me today again as I began reading the psalms. (I'm reading the afternoon psalms during this cycle.) Psalm 12 is a lament which criticizes the leaders and the culture for their smooth talking while "the needy are oppressed, and the poor cry out in misery." So many of the psalms sound this theme. Jim Wallis is fond of telling about a Bible experiment that some of his seminary students conducted many years ago. They cut out every passage that had to do with the poor and with our just use of our wealth. They removed several thousand verses. The Bible was literally cut to ribbons.

Then as I was reading the passage from Deuteronomy, I was drawn again to another repetitive theme in the Hebrew Scripture. As Moses describes the comprehensive justice system that he established, creating commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and even tens, he charged those who will exercise judgment to "give the members of your community a fair hearing, and judge rightly between one person and other, whether citizen or resident alien." Here is yet another command that the resident alien be treated with equal regard. That couldn't have been easier for ancient Israel than it is for us today either.

Generous action toward the poor and equal regard for the alien. You can't read the Bible without being convinced that these are God's expectations of us. This is God's agenda, God's politics, God's economics.

Politicians who wrap themselves in religion and the Bible and fail to make generous action toward the poor and equal regard for the alien a centerpiece of their policies are like the whitewashed tombs and the enemies of the prophets that Jesus speaks words of woe to in our Matthew reading. Jesus uses the word "hypocrites."

Lowell
_________________________

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Blood and hypocrisy

Tuesday, July 11, 2006 -- Week of Proper 9 (Benedict of Nursia)

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

Discussion Blog
To comment on today's reflection or readings, go to http://lowellsblog.blogspot.com, find today's reading, click "comment" at the bottom of the reading, and post your thoughts.

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 973)
Psalm 5, 6 (morning) // 10, 11 (evening)
Numbers 35:1-3, 9-15, 30-34
Romans 8:31-39
Matthew 23:13-26

From the earliest days there is a Biblical conviction that life is in the blood. Whenever life is taken wrongly, the blood itself cries out from the ground to the God of justice. Wrongful death pollutes the land.

Today we read some of the provisions for dealing with the need to cleanse the people and land after wrongful death. There is care to provide cities of refuge to protect someone from revenge should they commit unintentional manslaughter. And "no one shall be put to death on the testimony of a single witness." But the ethic of early Israel demands that blood be avenged by blood, death by death. If the death was intentional murder, the person would be tried by the congregation, and if convicted, the sentence would be carried out by the "avenger of blood," presumably a designated member of the victim's family. If the death was accidental, the person who caused the unintentional manslaughter will live in a refuge city until the death of the high priest.

We hear echoes of this tradition in Paul's lyrical proclamation at the end of Romans 8. Christ is the great high priest whose blood and death overcomes all sin, violence and death. "Who is to condemn?" Nothing can "separate us from the love of Christ." Not even death and blood. His is the death that liberates humanity from the cycle of death and revenge, sin and punishment.
________________

Reading the series of woes against the scribes and Pharisees brings a couple of things to mind. "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them." A friend visited the Bible Fellowship Church a couple of weeks ago and was telling about the multi-sensory experience of hell. With sounds and images and words the teaching was about the horrors of hell and about the God who was going to send every human being there. The only way out, it was implied, was to join their church.

I've written before about the strangeness of a religion that proclaims that Jesus died to save us from God. I've written before about the anemia of reducing religion to a transaction.

In Christ we see revealed the nature of God not as the avenger of blood, but as the vulnerable love which absorbs violence unto death and gives back only life. Jesus shows us the life that liberates humanity from the cycle of death and revenge, sin and punishment.

While reading the series of woes I also thought of my of hypocrisy and my church's hypocrisy as we "strain at gnats" and make distinctions that sound as strange as the third woe in this list. They hypocrites say "who ever swears by the sanctuary is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is bound by the oath." Last Sunday I found myself explaining the strange difference between "public" and "private pastoral" rites and the difference between "marriage" and "blessing." That strange conversation came to mind when I read "for you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith." No church has a monopoly on hypocrisy.

"Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, or angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Lowell

P.S. Today is the feast of St. Benedict. His balanced rule offers sane wisdom for living in community. I'm recalled to the Benedictine promises of obedience, stability and conversion of life.


_________________________


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The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Monday, July 10, 2006

Contemplative Prayer and the Present Moment

July 10, 2006 -- Week of Proper 9

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 973)
Psalm 1, 2, 3 (morning) // 4, 7 (evening)
Numbers 32:1-6, 16-27
Romans 8:26-30
Matthew 23:1-12


"The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs to deep for words."

This is one of the passages that speaks to the practice of contemplative prayer. In contemplation, we trust the Spirit to pray for us, below the level of our words and thoughts and feelings. At that deep place within, "God who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit." In contemplation we release, trusting the Spirit within to pray for us.

There are many techniques to facilitate that deep trust. To allow the Spirit to pray means that we must let go of our own control needs, especially our thoughts and feelings which busily try to take over our prayer. Contemplative practices abound -- mantras, beads, chants, repetitive movements, singular concentration, gazing, the breath, detached observation, labyrinths, inclinations of the heart and mind. Centering Prayer is one ancient technique that I practice -- a simple word is the tool to express an intent to consent to the prayer and activity of the Spirit within.

The trust and acceptance that contemplative prayer creates helps create space to be open to the assertions that Paul speaks in the next paragraph today. The NRSV gives us three variant readings, and one seems more believable to me. The text printed in the main section is translated "We know that all things work together for good..." The two footnoted options point to variant readings from alternate manuscripts: "We know that God makes all things work together for good..." or "We know that in all things God works for good..." I find the third to be the most believable version.

I am reminded of the spiritual wisdom of Jean Pierre de Caussade whose practice was centered on our surrender to the presence of God as manifested in the circumstances of the present moment. The present moment is the only place where we meet God and these are the conditions through which God is present. Trust, he says, that God is doing everything for good, and each present moment, with its particular joys, challenges, and sufferings, is as good as it can be given the limitations of creation. So, he says, joyfully embrace the present moment as the presence of God in time. Like you embrace the bread and wine as the sacramental presence of Christ, embrace whatever the present moment may be as the sacramental presence of God with us. De Caussade would like all three versions of St. Paul's text -- We know that all things work together for good, God makes all things work together for good, in all things God works for good."

Such a surrender in trust to God's working in the present moment is like extending the trust of contemplative prayer into the work of the day.

Lowell
_________________________


Anyone may subscribe to receive "Morning Reflections" by email.
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The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Sermon: Posttraumatic Growth

Sermon preached by the Rev. Lowell E. Grisham, Rector
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, AR
July 9, 2006; 5 Pentecost, Proper 9, Year B
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

Gospel Reading: (Mark 6:1-13) -- He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
__________________________________________________

Maybe you remember Mark's account of Jesus' first return home after he has begun his public ministry. The visit was something of a disaster. His family tried to restrain him, "for people were saying, 'He has gone out of his mind.'" Yet, out of that painful encounter Jesus developed an expanded vision of family. "Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother." (Mark 3:19f) The conflict and trauma of that event produced in Jesus a broader definition of relationship.

Today we read Mark's version of Jesus' second visit to his hometown, and it also is a disaster. "They took offense at him." Luke's gospel elaborates on this story, concluding it with an enraged mob threatening to throw Jesus off the town cliff.

This is traumatic stuff. Imagine the family arguments. Imagine the pain. His hometown is probably a village of only a few extended families, their lives and histories deeply interwoven. They reject his calling and his ministry; they reject him. "And he could do no deed of power there," with some minor exceptions. No hometown celebrity welcome for Jesus. He's cut down and cut off from his roots. In Nazareth, his hometown, he is a failure and an embarrassment.

That's the kind of experience that can take the wind out of your sails. It's the kind of judgment that can produce self-doubt or bitterness or resentment. But in a remarkable display of resilience, immediately Jesus sends out the twelve, gives them his authority, confidently tells them to travel light, and if they also experience rejection, he tells them to move on and don't let any of the rejection stick to them -- "shake off the dust that is on your feet." His response to his failure and rejection at Nazareth is to expand his work through his disciples. That's not unlike what happened at the cross. On the cross, Jesus absorbed trauma and defeat, and God used his experience to create something new, expansive and powerful.

Every life has trauma. Many of us suffer repeated traumas. There is an ancient spiritual tradition that the strength of our souls is uniquely created by our particular experiences of woundedness. Paul's mysterious "thorn in the flesh" became for him the catalyst for his remarkable confidence that God's "power is made perfect in weakness," helping make him the resilient, courageous apostle he was.

In 1955 a couple of psychologists studying the lives of people who had experienced terrible trauma coined the term "posttraumatic growth" to describe the "flowers of hope and renewal that can grow from the ruins of a catastrophic event."* It is not unusual for someone whose internal world view has been turned upside down, or whose external circumstances have been upended, to launch a spiritual struggle that takes them to new places. When we are forced to ask questions like, "How could God let this happen?" and "Where was God?", we open ourselves to new possibilities for growth.

An article on trauma in the current issue of Utne magazine offers some real-life examples. The article tells of a renowned doctor who suffered a heart attack followed by a stroke. He lost his vocation, his capacity to drive, lost his purpose and felt useless. He wound up in a psychiatric unit under suicide watch.

"The former healer found himself swept up in an existential crisis. His identity fell away and left him with no choice but to dig deep within. It was then that he bumped into a spiritual core that had long been dormant, rediscovered his faith, began going to church, and regained his desire to live. He turned his energies toward mentoring youth in faith and writing a book on spirituality... He has found new meaning and purpose in life."** Posttraumatic growth.

The psychologists who coined that term have studied people "who have survived an astonishing range of trauma -- triggered by events such as death in the family, being held hostage, sexual assault, or medical emergency -- [people who] report coming out of the experience with positive results. A recently published book by Matthew Sanford tells his story of recovery from an auto accident when he was 13. His father and sister were killed and he was left paralyzed. Today he is a paraplegic yoga instructor who says, "I think that I'm a better person than I would have been."***

Gina Ross calls trauma one of the "four paths to spirituality," along with prayer, meditation, and sexuality. She's the founder of the International Trauma Healing Institute. People like Gina Ross help others to face trauma and heal it. Our cultural tendencies incline us to ignore or bury our traumas rather that to face into them as catalysts for our growth. But in so many ways, it is our traumas that make us who we are.

I know one of my early traumas was during my entire fifth grade year. It was 1962. In my wider environment, my hometown was rocked by the crisis following James Meredith's enrollment as the first black student at Ole Miss. There were days of riots, followed by months of military occupation. Our family car was inspected by troops from the 82nd Airborne Division every time we left our neighborhood. Our town was divided and traumatized. My fifth grade teacher was an unreformed Confederate, and she labeled me an "inter-grationist" (as she said it). She tried to make my life miserable, and pretty much succeeded. I fought back by requesting that we sing Battle Hymn of the Republic during morning devotionals, and, for one year only, cheering for the New York YANKEES, just because they were Yankees. Years later, I learned that during the three years around my time in fifth grade, she had done the same business of picking on one student in her class each year. I was told that the other three had to be hospitalized with nervous breakdowns during their year with her. I'm pretty sure that she helped make me who I am. I've kept up with the other three kids also. One doctor, one dentist and one international scholar. I think they found some internal metal from their fifth-grade trauma as well.

Within Christian life, there are three essential claims that ground our courage to face our traumas. First, we are God's beloved children. Nothing can change that essential identity. There is nothing that you can do which will cause God to disown you. Nothing. You may turn your back away from God, but God will never turn away from you. We are God's beloved children, and that identity is indelible, no matter what failure or trauma we may have experienced. Second, Christ is especially present with us in every moment of trauma or suffering. The cross is God's expression of solidarity with us in our misery, failure and embarrassment. Jesus is our wounded healer, intimately with us in our most vulnerable moments. We can never suffer alone. Third, what God does best is resurrection. If God can bring salvation for the world out of something as horrible as the unjust torture and execution of an innocent young man from Nazareth, imagine what God can do with your own traumas.

Paul writes in today's reading, "I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong."

How can your traumas turn into your spiritual growth? Your deepest identity and vocation may be linked to what you can gain through your suffering.

I'm hopeful that this ancient spiritual wisdom about individual growth through trauma can also be embraced for our corporate growth. What if as a nation we could look at our experience of trauma on September 11 as a motivation to seek healing for our interconnected planet? I feel some of the energy beneath the growing support for the Millennium Development Goals is part of our nation's creative and healthy response to our own experience of trauma. What if out of those ashes came the end of extreme poverty in all the world? What if love truly overcomes fear? In the long run, it always does. That's the power of resurrection. That is the way of Christ. In Christ, we can all become wounded healers. It's what God does best.
_____________

*
Joseph Hart writing in the magazine Utne, Trauma? Get Over It; July-Aug, '06, p. 41f)

**. Ibid.

*** Ibid. Matthew Sanford's book is Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence, published by Rodale.

Friday, July 07, 2006

Children of God: Caesar vs. Christ

Friday, July 7, 2006 -- Week of Proper 8

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
(p. 973)
Psalm 140, 142 (morning) // 141, 143:1-11(12) (evening)
Numbers 24:1-13
Romans 8:12-17
Matthew 22:15-22

Children of God: Caesar vs. Christ

This passage from Romans is one of the most lyrical and moving in all of scripture. "All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God." That Spirit dwells in us, "bearing witness... that we are children of God." From within us comes our intimate cry, "Abba! Father!" We are the inheritors, the heirs of God. Within all of this also is our suffering. Now suffering has meaning, for it is united with the suffering of Christ, who has been glorified. We shall be glorified like him. Therefore, do not be afraid.

It's interesting that this section about our adoption as God's children happens to be paired with the story in Matthew about Jesus being challenged over taxes to the emperor. Jesus' response is to ask for a coin. "Whose head is this, and whose title?"

I've been reading "In Search of Paul" by John Dominic Crossen and Jonathan Reed. They examine carefully the careful way that the emperor Octavian Augustus and his successors used coins as part of their systematic civic theocracy. The coins proclaim with various symbols that Caesar is divine. Roman law deified Julius Caesar in 42 BCE, which made Augustus his adopted son the "son of a divine one" or "son of god." Many coins bore that title DIVI FILIUS or its abbreviation DI FI, DIVI F, or DIVI FI. Augustus was also called Lord, Redeemer, and Savior of the World. This signs of Roman imperial theology were present on coins, cups, statues, altars, temples, and forums; on ports, roads, bridges, and aqueducts. The signs of Caesar's divinity were ubiquitous. They were the signs of the "Pax Romana" -- the Peace of Rome.

So when Paul preached Jesus as Lord, Redeemer, and Savior of the World, he was challenging Caesar. He was proclaiming an alternative empire. He was saying that we are raised to the status of Caesars; we are children of God and heirs of God. We live in the "Peace of Christ." The early church established a polemical parallelism between the cult of Christ and the cult of Caesar, and it was often considered high treason.

One glaring contrast between these two rules of peace. Augustus was clear -- First Victory, then Peace. The Roman legions conquered the world in order to impose peace. Paul, following Christ was equally clear -- First Justice, then Peace. We are justified by grace as God's children, therefore we live in peace.

What might Paul say to the symbols of empire in our generation?

Lowell
_________________________

Anyone may subscribe to receive "Morning Reflections" by email.

send a regular email to the following address: lowell-request@arkansasusa.com
Type the following command in the main body of the email:
JOIN lowell your-email-address (example: JOIN lowell JaneDoe@aol.com)

I also send the upcoming Sunday scripture readings to this same list.

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Pretty Simple Stuff

Thursday, July 6, 2006 -- Week of Proper 8

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 973)
Psalms 131, 132, [133] (morning) // 134, 135 (evening)
Numbers 23:11-26
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 22:1-14


Balik the King of Moab hires the famous prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites; Balaam can't do it because God has blessed them. Paul says there is no condemnation in Christ and contrasts life in the Spirit with life in the flesh. Matthew tells of the royal wedding banquet which expands its invitation to everyone.

So much of our spiritual teaching and the invitation into spiritual practice intends to convey a simple message -- Everyone is loved and blessed, so live that way.

It's a simple message, but not easy. We are invited to rethink everything. Know yourself to be perfectly loved and blessed. Relax. Look at all creation as the gift of God through which God gives blessing. See. Even when things look evil and broken and ill, God is always bringing life out of death. It is all the context for resurrection, healing and ultimate reconciliation. Live.

Accept the invitation to the party. In a sense, there's nothing to it.

Lowell
_________________________


Anyone may subscribe to receive "Morning Reflections" by email.
Send a regular email to the following address: lowell-request@arkansasusa.com
Then, type the following command in the main body of the email:
JOIN lowell your-email-address (example: JOIN lowell JaneDoe@aol.com)

I also send the upcoming Sunday scripture readings to this same list.

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

True Self & False Self

Wednesday, July 5, 2006 -- Week of Proper 8

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 973)
Psalms 119:145-176 (morning) // 128, 129, 130 (evening)
Numbers 22:41 - 23:12
Romans 7:13-25
Matthew 21:33-46


"I'll never do that again." And then I do. It seems like I find myself confessing the same stupid sins now at age 54 that I can remember struggling with during my fits of self-consciousness as a teen. It is as though I have some life-long tendencies planted deep within me. They don't sleep. They feel almost instinctual. When I am stressed or anxious or fearful... When I am complacent or prideful... they pounce.

Paul says today, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." Gerald May has an insightful study on how we get conditioned to certain behaviors and thought patterns. After we have repeated them enough, they create a neurological eight-lane highway that smoothly channels energy into our accustomed and destructive patterns. It is the pathology of addiction, and Gerald May uses it as a study of sin.

Sin's addictive power creates the experience of feeling that we are at war with something within that feels nonetheless external to ourselves. Paul describes the condition well: "I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. ....For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members."

Thomas Merton, Thomas Keating and other spiritual masters have used the language True Self / False Self to describe this universal human condition. At the center of our being ("my inmost self") we are always one with God. Our True Self lives in union with the Divine Life. This is who we most truly are. But our fears and hurts have led us to create compensating behaviors, defense mechanisms that take on a life of their own. Keating calls them the energy centers of our False Self. Gerald May calls them our addictions. Whatever you call them, they are powerful motivators, largely unconscious, and they never sleep.

"Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Our surrender into the grace of Christ is the step toward freedom. Twelve step spirituality knows how that works. Contemplative prayer practice opens up some space between the impulse and the response. Intentional dismantling of the energy centers helps, as does a regular practice of entrusting ourselves to grace. With God's help, and only with God's help, we can be free, and freely responsible. The willingness to live that way comes as a gift to be accepted, though, not a power to be grasped.

I've been most helped along that path by Thomas Keating ("Open Mind, Open Spirit") and by Gerald May ("Simply Sane" and "Addiction and Grace"). For me, they make my experience of Paul's dilemma a path of hope.

Lowell
_________________________

Anyone may subscribe to receive "Morning Reflections" by email.
Send a regular email to the following address: lowell-request@arkansasusa.com
Then, type the following command in the main body of the email:
JOIN lowell your-email-address (example: JOIN lowell JaneDoe@aol.com)

I also send the upcoming Sunday scripture readings to this same list.

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas